Yes.

I think Alibaba and Aliexpress are less tightly connected with the Chinese government. They also ship stuff from China, but they aren’t specialized in the cheapest of the cheapest. Plus as far as I know they’re more a marketplace platform. They handle the money and connect you with an individual seller in China. The platforms are a bit less convenient to use. I think it’s a bit like eBay vs Amazon, if you want to compare it to western companies.